District Man Sentenced to 6 ½ Years in Prison
For Kidnapping and Sexual Assault-Defendant Sexually Assaulted Woman, Then Threw Her Down the Steps-

WASHINGTON – Cornell “Man” Shumate, 30, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 6 ½ years in prison on charges stemming from the kidnapping and sexual assault of a woman in March of 2012, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

Shumate was found guilty in September 2013 by a jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of charges of kidnapping, attempted sexual abuse, and assault. He was sentenced by the Honorable John Ramsey Johnson. Upon completion of his prison term, Shumate will be placed on five years of supervised release. He also will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

According to the government’s evidence, in March 2012, the victim met Shumate’s friend and they exchanged phone numbers. A few days later, on March 25, 2012, the victim agreed to get together with Shumate’s friend. The friend brought the victim to Shumate’s house in Northeast Washington, and they, along with several others, drank and had casual conversation.

Unbeknownst to the victim, Shumate and his friend were using her as part of a game to see if they could get a woman to have sex with every man in the apartment. After a night of drinking and socializing, the victim had consensual sex with Shumate’s friend in the apartment. After she rejected the defendant, he pushed her into his bedroom, locked the door and started to rape her. After she was able to get away, he threw her out of the apartment and down two flights of stairs. The victim reported the assault immediately and Shumate was apprehended that night.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Sexual Assault Unit. He also praised those who handled the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Veronica Vaughan, Paralegal Specialist D’Yvonne Key, and Litigation Technology Specialist Kimberly Smith. Finally, he commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy H. Zubrensky, who indicted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mervin A. Bourne, Jr., who prosecuted the case.